Her Pilgrim Soul
Dr. Kevin Drayton and his assistant Daniel (Kristoffer Tabori and Gary Cole) are two scientists constructing a state of the art holographic projector, though Kevin is shoving his wife Carol (Wendy Girard) aside to perfect the device, straining their marriage. One day, the image of a human fetus appears on the projector without any input, prompting the scientists to think of it as a malfunction. Overtime, the fetus matures into a woman that ages 10 years per day, who identifies as Nola Granville (Anne Twomey). As he sends Daniel out to gather any information available about Nola, Kevin soon becomes friends with the holographic woman, who happens to have had specific reasons for why she manifested in his projector.
Tropes
- 555: The Draytons' phone number is shown to be 555-1689.
- Abusive Parents: As a young girl, Nola recalls how her father went with her to a lake and paddled her in knee-deep water. As she grows older, she also remembers how the man threw her book of poetry into the fireplace and changed the subject by telling her how beautiful she was whenever she brought up literature of politics, hinting that he was also a misogynist who believed that a woman's only goal in life was to shut up and be pretty.
- Alcoholic Parent: Kevin tells Nola that Carol's mother was an alcoholic, and she wanted children so she could be the kind of mother she never had herself. Hearing about Nola's own difficult childhood with her Fantasy-Forbidding Father allows Kevin to understand how Carol feels for the first time.
- Death by Childbirth: Nola happened to die in childbirth in March 1943, when her malformed uterus caused her to miscarry. She relives the moment when her hologram is a young woman, kneeling and groaning in excruciating pain, which then turns to sadness.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Nola's father is implied to have told Nola that the only thing a woman is destined to do in life is look pretty, and actively discouraged his daughter from reading literature and discussing politics. He disowned and disinherited her when she decided to pursue a career in poetry and married a Jewish lawyer named Robert Goldstone.
- Fantasy Keepsake: At the very end of the episode, the projector Kevin was working on spits out the ball that he had programmed for Nola to play with as a little girl, no doubt a final memento from Nola for Kevin to remember her by.
- Friendly Ghost: Despite the trouble's she's had with her father and her death in childbirth, Nola is a sweet and caring woman who wants to help the reincarnation of her husband Robert receive closure for what happened in the past, and mends Kevin's relationship with Carol to keep their marriage afloat.
- Gender-Concealing Voice: Nola manipulates a vocal synthesizer to disguise her voice as Kevin's, luring Carol to the laboratory so she and Kevin can reconcile their differences.
- Go Out with a Smile: Nola's spirit leaves Kevin when she explains why she inhabited the projector, smiling after helping him through his trauma.
- Happy Ending: Nola grants Kevin closure for the fear and sorrow her death gave him in his former life, and also patches up his marriage with Carol as a bonus.
- Haunted Technology: Nola's spirit possesses the hologram projector Kevin and Daniel were building, but she's benevolent in nature, and does so to give Kevin closure that he desperately needed. She does so by remotely manipulating a phone in the lab to call Carol and a voice synthesizer to replicate Kevin's voice as a means of luring her there.
- Hologram: Kevin and his assistant Daniel are shown to have developed a holographic projector for Holotechnics, Inc. It has the ability to create simple objects like a ball and a chessboard, but is also complex enough to create a projection of the Solar System. Nola's soul enters the device and creates a holographic version of herself, which grows from a fetus to an old lady over the course of five days.
- Literary Allusion Title: The episode's title is a reference to a line from the William Butler Yeats poem "When You Are Old". Kevin even reads the relevant passage to Nola, as they are both fans of Yeats' work. Another quotation is included in the closing narration.
- Love Triangle: Kevin, whose marriage to Carol is failing, falls in love with Nola, whose soul occupies the holographic projector he created. It turns out that Kevin is actually the reincarnation of Nola's husband Robert, and Nola appeared to Kevin in order to give him closure for the grief Robert suffered when she died in childbirth.
- Nice Girl: Nola proves to be very pleasant company, showing great admiration of chess and poetry. Her spirit occupies Kevin's projector because he's the reincarnation of her husband, and she wanted to give him closure by living out the happy life they were denied. Before she leaves, she uses a voice modulator to disguise herself as Kevin to lure Carol to the lab, allowing Kevin and his wife to patch up their issues.
- Reincarnation: Kevin is revealed to be the reincarnation of Nola's husband Robert Goldstone. Her soul appears to Kevin in his holographic projector so they could live the full life that they were denied when she died in childbirth. Robert carried his grief at losing Nola into his next life as Kevin, whose fear of experiencing the same loss again led him to distance himself from Carol. The closure that Nola provides Kevin allows him to reconcile with her.
- Smart People Play Chess: Scientist Kevin plays holographic chess with Nola at one point, with Nola mentioning that Robert loved the game and taught her how to play.
- Time-Shifted Actor: Nola is played by Anne Twomey as an adult, Betsy Lion as a five-year-old, and Danica McKellar as a ten-year-old.
- Unfinished Business: Nola's soul possesses Kevin's projector because he's the reincarnation of her husband Robert, and she wants to settle his fears of love by giving him closure and letting him live the life they never had, before she patches up Kevin's marriage to Carol.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The episode is one of Portrait of Jennie, as Kevin falls in love with the spirit of the long dead Nola, who grows older every time he sees her.
- Workaholic: Kevin has spent the last three years working round-the-clock to perfect his holographic projector. In the process, his marriage to Carol is failing since she and Kevin barely see each other anymore and Carol wants to start a family. Kevin later learns from Nola that he is the reincarnation of her husband, and he had inherited said husband's fear of love after Nola died in childbirth, which led him to act coldly towards Carol.
- You Wouldn't Believe Me If I Told You: As he temporarily moves into the lab to keep an eye on Nola, Carol asks him why he doesn't tell her what's wrong, prompting him to say she'll think he's crazy.
"And bending down beside the glowing bars, murmur, a little sadly, how love fled and paced upon the mountains overhead and hid her face among a crowd of stars." "A variation on William Butler Yeats to all those who have loved and lost, and loved again. On Earth or — in the Twilight Zone."
I of Newton
Sam (Sherman Hemsley) is a mathematics professor attempting to solve a grudgingly difficult equation. Utterly frustrated, Sam declares that he'd sell his soul to get the answer, prompting a demon (Ron Glass) to show up and collect. Caught offguard, Sam admits that he didn't mean what he said, but the demon reminds him that he's evil, and therefore is fully willing to take his soul. While he traps him in the classroom by an invisible wall, the demon ultimately allows Sam a chance to keep his soul, by either asking a question he can't answer, or giving a task he can't perform. The only problem Sam faces is that his demonic challenger is both omniscient and omnipotent.
Based on a short story of the same name by Joe Haldeman.
Tropes
- Accidental Incantation: The short revolves around Sam writing a math problem on the blackboard, and when he can't work out the solution, he angrily cries "I'd sell my soul to get this thing right!" Cue a demon instantly manifesting in the classroom to take said soul. When Sam protests that he didn't mean what he said, the demon explains that his statement had "the right phonetic structure to be a good old-fashioned demonic invocation — especially with that neat little curse word woven into it."
- Adaptation Deviation: The original short story has the demon telling Sam that he can defy impossible mathematical theorems, so Sam can't invoke a Reality-Breaking Paradox for his bet.
- Affably Evil: The demon may be out for Sam's soul, but he does give him a chance to keep it, and even givens genuine compliments of his inelligence.
- Alternate History: The demon tells Sam that he can show him visions of Berlin if the Nazis won World War II, or a 21st century Rome if Alexander the Great had lived to old age.
- Anthropomorphic Typography: The demon tells Sam about a universe where the dominant species is a race of sentient binary digits. Thinking this to be the perfect place for Sam's soul, the demon tells him that he could be a decimal point, gradually working himself up to a fraction.
- Armor-Piercing Response: How Sam successfully defeats the demon:
- Big "NO!": The demon is none too pleased when Sam tells him to get lost; the one thing an omniscient/omnipotent being can't do.
- Bottle Episode: The short takes place entirely in Sam's classroom.
- Bowdlerized: In the short story, the demon is summoned by Sam blurting "Oh, goddammit!" instead of saying he'd sell his soul. Here, Sam just says "Damn it!"
- Breather Episode: Given that the episode preceding it was an emotional rollercoaster, it'd make sense that this short is a lot more funny and witty to mellow the audience out again.
- Call-Back: Like "Dealer's Choice", four episodes earlier, the short has the demon's shirt declare New Jersey (Newark in particular) to be associated with hell and demons.
- Card-Carrying Villain: The demon, if it wasn't obvious.
- Chess with Death: The basic premise of the short. Math professor Sam is forced into a game of Questions and Answers with a demon. If he doesn't win, his soul will be dragged to Hell.
- Chromosome Casting: The only characters to appear are Sam and the demon.
- Cool Shades: The demon sports such a pair. Sam throws them in the trash after he successfully vanquishes him.
- Cultured Badass: Sam. As well as being a professor of advanced mathematics, he also knows quite a lot about classic literature, theology, and basic logic. The "badass" part comes in when he successfully outwits an omniscient demon.
- Deal with the Devil: Sam inadvertently declares that he'll sell his soul to get his math problem right, only for a demon who took the request literally to come for what's his.
- Did I Say That Out Loud: Sam tries to invoke the trope when the demon shows up, but the hellspawn isn't buying it.
- Dragged Off to Hell: The demon plans to do this to Sam once he wins his soul, but in a deliciously Karmic Twist Ending, he's the one who is sent back there after Sam successfully beats him at his own game.
- Evil Is Hammy: The demon absolutely goes to town on the scenery, bragging of how pathetic Sam's chances of keeping his soul are and bluntly reminding him that he's evil.
- Exact Words: Sam gets to ask the demon three questions about him and his powers, and then must either give the demon a final question that must be answered, or a task that must be performed, and if he can't do it, Sam's soul is free. The demon then counts Sam's surprised declaration of "Really?" as his first question. Sam then turns the tables by asking questions that reveal that the demon can travel anywhere in the omniverse and back again. With this information, Sam provides a perfect task: "Get lost."
- Fun T-Shirt: The demon wears a red one that keeps changing messages throughout the short.
- Impossible Task: The demon's game ends with one of them. Sam must present him with a question he can't answer, or a task he can't perform. Since the demon is able to do anything, go anywhere, and has access to all recorded information in the omniverse, it seems to be unfeasible, but Sam figures out a loophole and wins his soul.
- Invisible Wall: The demon creates an invisible wall so Sam can't flee his classroom.
- Left Hanging: Even though Sam beats the demon and keeps his soul, he still doesn't solve his math problem.
- Lighter and Softer: The short is a light-hearted offering where a math professor outwits a demon after his soul.
- Literal-Minded: Sam insists his proclamation of selling his soul was just an idiom, though the demon scoffs that it was a genuine request to him. It bites the demon in the ass when Sam tells him to get lost.note
- Logic Bomb: It's not exactly a smart idea for a demon to try and outsmart a mathematician.
- Minimalist Cast: Sam and the demon are the only characters to appear.
- Morton's Fork: When the demon explains to Sam that there's almost nothing he can do to escape, Sam complains that his scenario is completely unfair.Demon: Of course, it's not fair! We're evil! Look it up!
- Oh, Crap!:
- The second the demon appears after Sam offhandedly offers his soul in exchange for solving his math problem, Sam tries to book it out of the room.Sam: Did I say "soul"? Sorry. Slip of the tongue.
- The demon gets in on the action when he challenges Sam to provide a question he can't answer or task he can't perform. When Sam calmly says "Get lost," the demon's face turns to a look of pure horror right before he melts away screaming.
- The second the demon appears after Sam offhandedly offers his soul in exchange for solving his math problem, Sam tries to book it out of the room.
- The Omnipotent: The demon boasts about the seemingly limitless scope of his powers. He can travel to the Andromeda galaxy and back in a microsecond, make two electrons occupy the same quantum state, has access to every piece of recorded information in multiple universes, and can visit alternate histories vastly different than our own. Sam manages to defeat him by giving him an impossible task: to get lost.
- Pun-Based Title: The title is a mashup of Issac Newton and "eye of newt".
- Reality-Breaking Paradox: Sam is told by the omnipotent demon that he can save his soul by asking him a question he can't answer or telling him to complete a task he can't perform. After the demon brags about how he can go to anyplace in any alternate dimension in any time period and return, Sam defeats him with two words: "Get lost."
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The demon reveals a pair of red eyes to Sam when he removes his sunglasses.
- Running Gag: The demon's t-shirt changes its text during the short.HELL IS A SUMMER FESTIVAL
HELL IS A CITY MUCH LIKE NEWARK
OVER 2,000,000,000 SERVED
GEHENNA MORE THAN A PLACE A WAY OF LIFE
LET'S DO DAMNATION - Satan: He may be the identity of the demon who comes for Sam's soul. He brags that he knows everything and can do everything, but his target gets rid of him by coming up with something he can't do: "Get lost".
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Sam tries to pull this off when the demon first appears, heading for the door while offering a polite-but-frantic farewell. The demon is Genre Savvy enough to conjure an invisible wall, binding Sam in the room.
- Smug Snake: The demon is so confident in his ability to defeat mortals in his little game that he practically declares his victory before it even begins. It helps that the last time he lost was back during the Peloponnesian War (which, at the time of the short's original airing, was roughly 2,000 years ago).
- Take That!: One of the messages on the demon's T-shirt reads "HELL IS A CITY MUCH LIKE NEWARK"
- Terms of Endangerment: The demon repeatedly refers to Sam as "babe" while generally flattering him with compliments, but they're all incredibly insincere and only serve to emphasize how dangerous he is.
- Villain Respect: The demon sends a few compliments Sam's way when the guy shows what he considers notable intelligence, like that he's pretty clever for a creature with the relative IQ of a flatworm, or getting an idea about where he thinks his soul might go. The one that sounds the most sincere and the least backhanded is when Sam firmly requests that he go back to whatever "Stygian depths" he came from.
- Wham Line: "Get lost."
- Wishplosion: Sam is confronted with a demon who's out to claim his soul if he can't come up with a question he can't answer or a task he can't perform. The demon tells Sam that he's capable of doing anything and going anywhere. But Sam finally gets rid of him by putting his last wish in the form of a command: "Get lost!"
- Your Soul Is Mine!: Sam's soul will be brought to Hell unless he beats the demon. Interestingly, the demon notes that the forces of Hell don't actually do anything with all the souls they harvest, instead packing them up and distributing them to other beings throughout the multiverse, such as an extradimensional overlord who uses the souls to reanimate the bodies of dead maintenance workers.
"Another of our continuing tips on what to do if the Devil shows up on your doorstep." (...) "A public service announcement — from the Twilight Zone."
